After two tournaments where players set Colonial Country Club and Harbor Town Golf Links on fire, we got pretty much the same thing Thursday in Round 1 of the 2020 Traveler Championship. Mackenzie Hughes set the scoring pace with a 10 under 60 (missed a putt for 59 on the last hole), but the scoring average dropped to around 68.5, meaning that if he was 1 under, he was missing hits on the field.
The leaderboard, as has been the case in each of the first two events, is absolutely loaded after Round 1 with the best player in the world just three from Hughes. Let’s take a look at what happened on Thursday and who is in a position to make some noise on the last 54 holes.
1. Mackenzie Hughes (-10) – Hughes birdied three of his last four holes to reach 10 below overall and went all the way knowing he would need a birdie there for 59. He had a 40-foot-to-bird foot after mediocre handling and somehow … left it short. Very short too. It’s always good to shoot 60, but it had to hurt a little to keep from getting even in close proximity. What Hughes has to worry about a bit now is that he led the field at the start of Thursday, which is probably unsustainable (especially in this clip).
T2 Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland (-7) – Hovland and Schauffele were great and have real staying power here, but McIlroy stole the show early in the tournament. He hit the ball and did almost nothing on these greens. McIlroy had a field average with his putter and is still in second place as of Friday. Namely, McIlroy had 13 (thirteen !!) birdie or eagle putts within 20 feet, and made less than 70 feet of putts in total. Hughes can keep the lead, but McIlroy is the player to beat the last 54 holes with the way he hits it.
T5 Phil Mickelson, Michael Thompson, Sergio García, Tyler Duncan, Seung-Yul Noh, Louis Oosthuizen (-6) – Not only did Mickelson, who first started after turning 50, kept up with McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau (his playmates), but he beat Dechambeau and hit the ball beautifully. I came this week wondering what would be the way forward for Mickelson to win again on the PGA Tour, so of course he posts a number of hits in the top 10 hits and is in the mix in a tournament where he’s two times champion. Of course.
T11 Russell Henley, Tyler McCumber, Bryson DeChambeau, Brian Stuard, Rafa Cabrera Bello (-5) – We’ll talk about DeChambeau later in the week (because he’ll be on it until the end), but let’s talk about McCumber. He got into the field on Wednesday after five COVID-19 related retreats and was in a featured group with Chez Reavie and Jon Rahm. Somehow, he emerged as the best score in that group, even after starting the first three holes 2. He played the rest of his round 7 underneath, including a slightly nasty 30 in the last nine, and did it all after a week. walking. Related: Golf is the dumbest (and most impressive) sport in the world.
T31 Jordan Spieth (-3) – He hit very well and did not hit at all. I’m in a tournament to give up on understanding any of this. There have been some really shocking rounds in the past three weeks, but consistency is hard to trust here.
T79. Dustin Johnson (-1) – Speaking of consistency, Johnson played his round on the court Thursday despite shot 1 below. Again, the field average was 1.5 below, which means that DJ has a lot of work to do on Friday to make the cut. He’s had a weird last 15 months and he just doesn’t seem like his regular ball-kicker.
More takeaway food
• Collin Morikawa’s 22 straight cut streak as a pro is in jeopardy after a 2-over-72. He probably needs a 65 or higher on Friday to see the weekend.
• Rory is the true leader here. I guess everyone knows that, but it’s instructive to know that the lead in Round 2 is 7 low instead of 10 below.
• Hughes will not be the last player to challenge 59 (or better?) This week. Honestly, if one of the big names starts to feel like (Rahm? Rory?), 58 or 57 looks like it might be at stake with how easy TPC River Highlands is right now.
• No fan on the course is still the best type of professional golf.
CBS Sports was with you the entire time updating this story with the latest scores, updates and highlights from the Travelers Championship below. Check out live scores at the top of this story or a more detailed leaderboard.
